Nov
06
Clean sweep?
Next on the to-do list...
For the past few weeks village commissioners have spoken of the need to keep fallen leaves out of stormwater inlets, even suggesting residents take it upon themselves to keep the gutters in front of their homes clear.
To which some of us might be forgiven for wondering: “Don’t we have street sweepers for that?” (Or has that service also fallen to the budgetary axe?)
Turns out the village has maintained its street sweeping program, which calls for all curbed streets to be swept three times between mid-October and mid-December.
The streets are swept six times between April and October, while streets in the downtown business district are swept more often.
The village will pay Elgin Sweeping Services Inc. about $108,000 this year to keep the streets free of debris. During last year’s budget process the village dropped plans to add nine more cycles of street sweeping, which was identified in the 2006 Stormwater Master Plan Update as a “key activity for the operation and maintenance of the village’s stormwater system,” according to an April 2009 green sheet.
That key activity has largely fallen to residents this season, as rainy October weather postponed some of the scheduled passes.
Inclement weather — wind, rain, cold — also caused many trees to drop their leaves in unison this fall — obscuring, sometimes within hours, the fact that the sweepers had been past, said Doug Kozlowski, village communications director. It takes about three weeks to complete a village-wide sweeping cycle.
In recent years, early snowfalls also have raised havoc with the schedule, preventing sweepers from hitting the streets for a final post-Thanksgiving pass. In that case, the village isn’t charged for the final cycle.
Given the unpredictable weather, there’s virtually no way for the village to notify residents when they can expect to see the sweepers on their street — which means your house will be skipped if there’s a car parked in front.
I’ve concluded that it’s up to me (or some other unwilling family member) to rid my gutter of the oak and maple flotsam clogging it. With at least a bagful of leaves swamping the thing, I had hoped the sweepers would be just around the corner.
At least there is some good news: Kozlowski tells me it’s possible to run a mulching mower over leaves in the gutter. I’ll soon find out.
Is there a more sisyphean task then raking and bagging soggy leaves and clumped piles of landscape flotsom? Ugh. Over the last 2 weekends I’ve dragged 26 bags to the corner, and I still have 1 silver maple that is stubbornly refusing to give up her coat.
Kozlowskii is exactly right, just pass your lawnmower over the curb a few times with the bag on, dump it, then go over it again with the bag off (watch out for your neighbor backing out his driveway while babbling on the cell phone). I haven’t seen any signs of street sweepers but at the rate the leaves shed its entirely possible I may not have noticed.
Meat:
Next time save yourself the sticker cost and buy a electric leaf mulcher for about $125. It’s called Flowtron. Those 26 bags will be down to about 4 and the thing pays for itself in about tow years. google it or “electril leaf mulcher and see what pops up. I’ve had mine for 3 seasons including this one and it’s awesome.
Let’s see – the side roads can’t get plowed in the winter and the leaves can’t be swept out of the roads in the Fall.
If we are relying on the residents to sweep the streets of leaves we are going to have a lot clogged drains. My street has no parking allowed all day during the week – it could have been swept.
So Meat has spent about $75 this year on yard stickers with more to come. I have better things to spend my money on. I mulch with out the bag a few times in the fall. As long as you keep up with it its easy. I mulch the street also, but I am not bagging the stuff in the street. If every homeowner in our village spent that amount on their leaves the total would be over a million dollars. The program that was cut only cost $140k. Food for thought.
The ‘Flowtron’ is an interesting idea, I may look into it. I think this year was particularly harsh because of the weather, and the way the leaves came down (all at once).
Mulching with the bag off the mower is not an option in my yard, simply too many leaves for the Craftsman to handle. Spread out through the yard the piles would still be consistently 2 feet high. Besides, the bagging is good a cardio workout..
The kids can leap on a leaf pile, so it needs to be as big as possible. My kids feel priveleged since the neighbor kids are out and they only have mulch to play with. I feel sorry for the mulch kids.
Funny that the village can’t make the welfare of trees a priority yet we should make the leaves a priority to protect storm drains that would not be so full if there were more trees to soak up the stormwater??
Miffed at my neighbors landscaper who blew thier leaves into my driveway and the street….
I feel sorry for the mulch kids.
ROTFLMAO, B’man.
Leaves make an excellent addition to that compost pile as well….
It’s basically the same as saying we only snow plow three times a winter. And if there happens to be snow on the ground great – if not, oh well we had our outsourced shedule to follow. Too bad mother nature does not follow our schedule.
Well I’ve seen contracted Elgin sweepers come thru twice this fall, at least some service for a $7000 property tax bill. Are Dillard and Schillerstrom going to brag about their county’s taxes to Peoria residents ??
My property produces no leaves, just the village parkway trees. From now on they get swept into the curb. NO MORE $3 stickers for me.